The invention relates to a fire protection sleeve having a carrier strip and an intumescent overlay, which runs on an inner surface along the carrier strip and is connected thereto.
Fire protection sleeves are used to seal as tightly as possible breakthroughs in a wall or ceiling though which pipe or cable are fed in order to prevent the spread of fire or smoke. To this end, such a fire protection sleeve is laid around the pipe or cable on or in the breakthrough. The fire protection sleeve has a dimensionally stable carrier strip used to position the fire protection sleeve, along with an intumescent overlay that expands under the influence of heat and seals the breakthrough. The intumescent overlay may be glued or foamed on the carrier strip.
In order to make it possible to individually adapt to the number or size of pipes, cable strands, etc., present in the wall or ceiling breakthrough, fire protection sleeves are known from the prior art which are supplied as continuous material and can be cut to the desired length on site. Such a fire protection sleeve is known from European Patent Document No. EP 1 181 481 B1, for example.
In order to facilitate the assembly of the fire protection sleeve on site, integrated closure elements are provided on the carrier strip, for example, which make it possible to close the fire protection sleeve. Alternatively or additionally, hooks are provided on the wall or ceiling into which the protection sleeve can be inserted and thereby be fixed firmly in position.
These types of closure or anchoring systems are supposed to ensure a secure fixation and anchoring of the fire protection sleeve so that it is not able to shift, something that could affect functioning. In addition, the expansion of the intumescent material in the event of a fire is supposed to be impeded as little as possible so that a complete and quick sealing of the breakthrough is possible. In addition, the fire protection sleeve is supposed to be simple to cut to size so that quick processing is possible at the construction site.
However, manufacturing the carrier strip and thus the fire protection sleeve becomes substantially more expensive due to the closure elements that are integrated into the carrier strip. In addition, the carrier strip cannot be shortened as desired. Additional anchoring elements can only be used if the fire protection sleeve is inserted into the breakthrough.
The object of the invention is providing a fire protection sleeve which makes a simple closing of the fire protection sleeve possible independent of the desired diameter or the desired length of the fire protection sleeve.
To attain this object, a fire protection sleeve is provided having a carrier strip, an intumescent overlay, which runs on an inner surface along the carrier strip and is connected thereto, wherein a plurality of recesses spaced apart from one another in a longitudinal direction are provided on the outer side of the carrier strip facing away from the intumescent overlay, and having in particular a closure clip made of a sheet, which has at least two hooks that are able to engage in the recesses. The shape of the recess is not restricted. The recesses may be configured, for example, in the form of slots or holes, wherein other shapes are also conceivable and possible, however.
Because only recesses are provided on the carrier strip, it is simple to manufacture and, because there are no projecting elements, it can be wound up to save space. The carrier strip with the intumescent overlay fastened to it can be cut to the desired dimension and rolled up. Then a closure clip is inserted from the outside into the openings and the fire protection sleeve is thereby closed.
The advantage of this as compared to other closure possibilities is that the carrier strip is loaded exclusively in the circumferential direction when the intumescent overlay expands, i.e., only tensile stress acts on the carrier strip. Shearing stress, which may occur particularly in the region of the closure, is absorbed completely by the clip. As a result, it is possible to manufacture the carrier strip from a thinner material. The advantage of this is that the carrier strip is considerably more flexible and trimming the carrier strip to the desired length is considerably simpler. The carrier strip can be manufactured so thin for example that previously used cutting zones with a material weakening are no longer required, thereby allowing manufacturing expenses for the carrier strip to be reduced as well. In addition, a more precise adaptation of the fire protection sleeve is possible because the carrier strip is able to be cut at any position independent of cutting zones.
The closure clip preferably has a substantially flat base body, and, in a pre-assembly position, the hooks protrude substantially at a right angle from the base body. As a result, the hooks are able to be inserted into the recesses in the radial direction and be fixed to the strip. After insertion of the closure clip, the base body lies flat on the carrier strip so that the base body does not project at all or only slightly over the fire protection sleeve or the carrier strip. This facilitates in particular the insertion of the fire protection sleeve into a breakthrough, because there are no projections on the outside which might cause the fire protection sleeve to get caught.
The hooks are bent, for example, in a final assembly position at an acute angle to the base body and in particular in the final assembly position are bent approximately parallel to the base body. After insertion into the recesses, the hooks are thus bent in such a way that they are not able to slip out of the recesses. This would only be possible if the edges of the carrier strip were slid on top of one another so that the distance between the recesses in which the hooks engage was shortened. However, this is prevented by the carrier strip and the intumescent overlay. If the intumescent overlay expands, the stress on the closure clip also increases, thereby additionally securing it.
In order to be able to bend the hooks as simply as possible, the hooks preferably have an especially elongated receptacle for a tool. This facilitates the bending of the hooks into the intermediate assembly position, in which the hooks are inserted into the recesses and thus are not accessible from the outside. The tool may be inserted radially into the round strip and in the longitudinal direction into the receptacle so that the tool is held at the respective hook in the longitudinal direction. By swiveling the tool, the hook is able to be bent in a simple manner. The tool may be a common tool, such as a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, or a tool with a flat and wide element that is able to engage in the receptacles.
The receptacle runs, for example, parallel to the plane of the hook. In particular, the receptacle forms a pocket with opposing edges of the hook that are bent toward each other. This pocket or receptacle is configured, for example, such that a tool, e.g., a screwdriver, is able to be inserted into the closure clip or the receptacle in the radial direction. Then the tool may be moved in such a way that the hook is bent into the final assembly position, wherein the tool is finally swiveled approximately tangentially to the carrier strip. Finally, the tool may be extracted from the pocket. The pocket may be embodied in such a way that damage by the tool to the intumescent material underneath is ruled out, because the pocket is tapered or closed, for example, towards the free end.
In an alternative embodiment of the closure clip, the tool may be connected permanently or detachably to the hooks and/or the receptacle for bending the hooks of the closure clip. It is preferred that the tool be configured as an elongated, rectangular sheet, which, in a pre-assembly form, projects over the plane of the closure and is connected permanently or detachably to the hooks and/or the receptacle.
In order to facilitate simple movement of the hooks into the final assembly position, it is necessary that the bending does not encounter any great resistance from the intumescent overlay in the region of the hooks. This may be accomplished, for example, by the intumescent overlay being made of a yielding foam material at least in the region of the recesses, which may be displaced or compressed simply. In this case, “yielding” means that the material is soft and elastic so that it is able to be bent and deformed without a great expenditure of force and is able to return to its original shape again if deformation forces are no longer acting on the material.
However, it is also conceivable for the intumescent overlay to have, in the region of the recesses, depressions pointing towards the carrier strip, or grooves running in particular in the longitudinal direction. In the region in which the hooks may engage, no intumescent overlay is thus provided or a groove or depression is formed so that the hook does not come into contact with the intumescent overlay and therefore the intumescent overlay does not constitute an impediment to bending.
These grooves may also extend through the entire thickness of the intumescent overlay and divide the same into a plurality of intumescent strips in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the hook or the closure clip is also accessible from the inside so that it may also be bent from the inside.
The intumescent overlay preferably has ribs running transverse to the longitudinal direction. The ribs extend over the entire width of the intumescent overlay. The ribs, for one, define cutting regions, which are used to make it simple to cut the carrier strip or the intumescent overlay to length. In addition, the ribs may also form fold regions, however, which facilitate simple rolling of the sleeve. If the ribs were not present, the intumescent overlay would get heavily compressed on the inner side when it is rolled around the pipe or line especially in the case of smaller pipe diameters. The ribs prevent this. The size of the ribs or the angle between the ribs may be selected depending upon the maximum or desired diameter of the fire protection sleeve.
As the case may be, gaps present between the ribs are closed in the event of a fire by the expansion of the intumescent overlay.
The recesses are preferably located between the ribs, which facilitates the insertion of the hooks.
The expansion of the intumescent overlay is impeded by the carrier strip. In order to make it possible to better seal the wall breakthrough, a second intumescent overlay may therefore be provided on the outer side of the carrier strip. This may furthermore form a vibration decoupling of the line or the pipe from the substrate. This second intumescent overlay is preferably formed of strips and laid in such a way that recesses in the carrier strip are kept clear so that the closure clip may be inserted.
Normally, a metal strip, especially a metal sheet, is used for the carrier strip. However, it is also conceivable for the carrier strip to be made of plastic, in particular a glass fiber reinforced plastic.
Additional advantages and features are disclosed in the following description in conjunction with the drawings.